


Designating

by gijane7702



Series: Happily Ever After [3]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Babyfic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24879577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gijane7702/pseuds/gijane7702
Summary: The newest member of the family gets named ...
Relationships: Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway
Series: Happily Ever After [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800247
Comments: 22
Kudos: 63





	Designating

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who requested more Chaska ...
> 
> Thanks, always, to coffeeblack75 for the beta 😘

“Mommy … look !!”

Kathryn looked up from her computer console on her office desk and over at her five-year-old daughter, gasping as she took in the sight of her. Chaska was covered from head to toe in dirt and mud. Her hair was a rat’s nest, with one of her braids half falling out of its once-white ribbon. The only part of the little girl that wasn’t filthy were her sandals. 

“How? What … what did you do?!” Kathryn yelped, jumping up from her desk. “Chakotay!” she bellowed out the open door. Then she saw it. Pointing, she asked, “Little One … what is _that_?!”

Chaska beamed dimples-deep at her mother. “It’s a kitten!” she exclaimed excitedly, holding the teeny tiny animal up to Kathryn for inspection. 

“I can see that it’s a kitten,” Kathryn said calmly. “Where did you find … it?”

“Her, Mommy!” Chaska corrected. “She was in the backyard … I swear,” she added when her mother gave her a dubious look. “Behind the storage shed.”

“What’s going on …? Chaska, how did you …? What …? Is that a cat?” Chakotay asked from the doorway. 

“It’s a kitten, Daddy!” She held the muddied cat up as high as she could reach so her father could see. Kathryn chuckled as he recoiled slightly from the filthy animal. “Isn’t she beautiful?” Chaska asked him, grinning. 

“How do you know it’s a girl?” Chakotay asked patiently, making eye contact with Kathryn. They both knew what question was coming next.

“She told me,” Chaska told him, cuddling the kitten close. It began purring, the vibrations increasing in volume as the little girl petted it.

Chaska was so absorbed in making the kitten purr that she didn’t see her parents exchange looks. Chakotay originally joked about their little girl carrying the blessing of the goddess she was named after, but more and more they were starting to believe it. If the kitten had found Chaska and told her she was female, they believed her. 

Chaska looked at both her parents and asked, “Can I keep her?”

Kathryn and Chakotay glanced at each other again. Both shrugged. “As long as she gets along with Five,” Kathryn told her. 

Chaska squealed with excitement and was out the door yelling for the family’s golden retriever before either parent could blink. 

“Chaska, no!” Chakotay yelled, chasing after her. But it was too late. Mud and dirt had gone flying off of his daughter as she ran down the corridor, splattering the walls and floor. 

Chaska froze at the end of the corridor. “Daddy?” she asked, looking back at him. Her dark blue eyes went wide as she took in the mess she had created. “Sorry,” she told her father. But she giggled when she saw her mother start laughing and duck back into her office. “It’s not funny, Mommy!”

Kathryn snorted with laughter, then cleared her throat. Stepping out of her office again, she avoided her husband’s gaze, knowing she’d start laughing again. “It’s okay, Little One … mud and dirt will come off. I’ll clean it,” she added to Chakotay, still not looking at him but knowing he was giving her an incredulous look of disbelief. “Here’s Five now … what’s she think?”

Chaska looked over at the dog who was sitting on her haunches peering curiously at the kitten. The little girl held out the cat for the dog to smell. Five stood and approached cautiously. The kitten looked up at her with big blue eyes and meowed pitifully. The golden retriever stepped closer and sniffed the kitten, who in turn bopped the dog on the nose. Five snuffled, stepped back, then forward again. She sniffed the kitten again. It meowed again. The dog stepped closer, staring at the cat, then nuzzled her nose to the kitten’s. To the surprise of four of the five humans observing, the kitten began to purr. 

“They’re best friends,” Chaska announced, beaming happily. 

Kathryn walked down the corridor, Chakotay behind her. She looked down at her daughter, her dog, and apparently, now her cat, and said grimly, “All three of you need baths.” Her sons laughed when the golden retriever looked alarmed and ran off. “Kole,” she said to her oldest, “go find her and make sure her nose and muzzle are clean.” Kole saluted his mother and ran off to find his dog. 

“Callen,” Chakotay spoke up, “go get a bucket of soapy water and some cleaning cloths for your mother. She volunteered to clean up the corridor.” He winked at Kathryn, who blew him a kiss. “Chaska … outside. Take Kitty—”

“—Seven,” Chaska corrected him.

“Seven?” Chakotay asked, looking at Kathryn oddly when she started laughing. 

“Her designation is Seven,” said Chaska. Chakotay blinked. Kathryn snorted. “Mommy is One. Daddy, Two. Kole, Three. Callen, Four.” By this time, Chakotay had closed his eyes, realizing she meant, while Kathryn walked away laughing. “Five is Five. Me, Six. Kitty is Seven.”

“I like it, ”Kole said while entering the room with a clean Five behind him. “Her name is Seven … can’t wait for Aunt Annika to meet her.” He smirked when they all overheard Kathryn laughing even louder. 

“Mom, water bucket and cleaning cloths,” Callen called. Kathryn re-entered the room biting her lip. Callen looked at his father and told him, “Seven is the only logical name for her … the dog is named Five.” He grinned when his mother snorted in laughter. “Hey … you let an xB explain designations to us. Of course we named her Five after that.”

Chakotay shook his head and headed outside with Chaska and Seven as Kathryn continued laughing, now at the recollection of that memory. Aunt Annika, the ex-Borg formerly known as Seven of Nine, had been taken aback when her former command team’s two young sons had listened intently to her explanation of her previous Borg designation, then promptly named their brand new puppy Five of Five. 

Their parents had been too hysterical to resist the naming and Five’s name had stuck. When Chaska had come along, she good-naturedly took the designation of Six. Aunt Annika was _not_ going to be thrilled to have a kitten named Seven, the shortened version of her former name. 

Kole and Callen gathered at the back door with towels and laughed gleefully, watching as Chakotay hosed down their shrieking sister and her kitten while Kathryn cleaned the mud and dirt from the walls and floor. Chaska came inside shivering and was immediately wrapped up in a towel by Kole. Callen took Seven and towel dried the meowing kitten, who was making her displeasure clearly known. Five watched cautiously when Callen set Seven down on the floor and she stalked towards her. 

“That is a beautiful cat,” Kole said as Five sniffed Seven then began to lick her dry as she would her own puppy. Seven wasn’t pleased, but tolerated it. “She’s so white and fluffy ... like a cotton ball.” Winking at his brother, he continued with, “We should name her Cotton.”

Chaska shot him a Janeway Glare that he smirked at. “No! Her name is Seven!” The kitten looked over and meowed at Chaska. “See? She likes Seven!”

“Seven it is,” Kathryn confirmed. Looking at Chakotay, she grinned and added, “Resistance is futile.” She burst out laughing once more as he groaned and dropped his head into his hands, but his shoulders were shaking with laughter.

A few months later, Annika Hansen waited patiently on the front porch after she rang the doorbell to the Janeway home. She winced as she heard the ruckus of a crash then her former captain yelling at her youngest to stop running as a dog barked loudly. Annika rolled her eyes as she suddenly remembered the Janeway boys had named the dog Five of Five. 

The door was thrown open. Chaska, the youngest Janeway, grinned, her perfect dimples on show, as she bellowed the announcement, “Aunt Annika is here!” 

Before Annika could even step over the threshold, a white cloud of fluff went flying by her. “Seven! No!” Chaska shrieked, pushing past her honorary aunt and racing after the white streak. 

Annika was taken aback. The littlest one she had only met twice prior and she had never called her aunt "Seven". “I beg your …” she trailed off as Chaska managed to grab the white ball of fluff, which was now revealed to be a kitten, and marched back towards her. 

“Aunt Annika,” Chaska said, oblivious to the spitting angry kitten she was holding up. “This is Seven, my cat. I found her.”

Annika blinked then looked back at her former command team. Kathryn and Chakotay were holding each other up, laughing hysterically. Before she could say anything, Kole snapped a holo-image of the scene. Annika looked back down at the kitten and beaming little girl, back at her parents, and rolled her eyes. Apparently, the Janeway boys had taught their sister about designations. The kitten’s name was logical, if annoying.

She made a mental note as she followed Chaska and the new Seven inside, closing the door behind her, that she would never teach children about Borg designations again.


End file.
